"I Have a Date with Spring" is a pioneering work of Media Asia Film Company, and its success can be said to be a miracle.
As mentioned earlier, Media Asia’s boss is called Zhuang Cheng.
Zhuang Cheng, Zhong Zaisi, Ma Fengguo, Feng Yong, Liao Yongliang, Chen Ziliang, and Nick James were originally wage earners at Star TV.
In 1994, the decline of Hong Kong films was obvious. Except for a few people like Yang Ye and Chen Long who were still proud of the world, even big stars like Liu Hua suffered a huge loss.
The seven of them decided to buck the market trend and establish Media Asia.
They discussed with Shi Nansheng, the distribution manager of Baiyang Pictures: "We are going to leave Star TV. Can we give you the distribution rights for all future movies?"
Seeing that they were all talented people, Shi Nansheng agreed and gave them a small deposit.
The startups of these seven people are different from others. In other companies, directors, actors, etc. usually start their own business after they become good.
There are no directors, actors, or screenwriters among them. Their previous positions were in distribution, finance, publicity...all in logistics.
Naturally, they couldn't attract investment, and the deposit Shi Nansheng gave them was very small, which was not enough to make a movie.
They raised their own funds, and together with the deposit from Shi Nansheng, they raised a total of more than one million yuan.
At this time, the Hong Kong Repertory Theater's stage play "I Have a Date with Spring" wanted to be adapted into a movie.
But there is a requirement, that is, the four female leads in this play must be the heroines of the movie.
Hong Kong movies are all about selling stars. If you don’t have any stars, who will you sell this movie to? So those film companies were unwilling to invest.
However, Media Asia came to the door, and the two parties hit it off immediately. The repertory troupe established a "Spring Film Company" and paid more than one million.
The two parties pooled together three million to start the project without a single star and four heroines making their first movie.
In the end, after the movie was shot and released, because there were no stars, no one cared about it at all, and there was no film schedule. The box office in the first weekend was only 189,000.
In addition to advertising in newspapers, Zhuang Cheng took several people from the company to the cinema to watch. When young people came to buy tickets, he stepped forward to recommend it.
Since there aren't many theaters that schedule their movies, they really have enough manpower.
Once the audience sees that there are no stars, they don’t want to watch it: “Our time is precious, who knows whether it will be good or not.”
Zhuang Cheng smacked his chest to confirm: "This movie was made by our company. I guarantee it will be good. I will wait here. As long as you come out and say it is not good, I will refund your money."
When those young people came out after watching the movie, Zhuang Chengzhen was waiting at the door. They told Zhuang Cheng that it was really good.
In this way, it took five weeks to rely on word of mouth. Thanks to word of mouth from the audience, the number of theaters where it was shown increased to more than 20, and the film schedule was finally started.
In the end, the film was released for 142 days, making it the longest-running Hong Kong film in history.
It took in a box office of 21.4 million, which is higher than Jet Li's "The Fifth Patriarch of Shaolin".
Media Asia also became one of the most successful film companies in Hong Kong because of the success of this movie.
……
Yang Ye got off the stage and returned to his seat. He saw Zhang Xiaoxian sitting not far away and waved her over.
"Xiao Xian, contact the Hong Kong Repertory Theater to buy the copyright of "I Have a Date with Spring" and adapt it into a TV script, with Chen Shisan as the screenwriter."
Chen Shisan is the screenwriter of "I Have a Date with a Zombie", and "I Have a Date with Spring" is Chen Shisan's famous work.
These two TV series made the leg girl Wan Qiwen famous to the sky, and Chen Shisan also became attached to the leg girl. In the end, he embraced the beauty and took Wan Qiwen home as his wife.
Zhang Xiaoxian agreed and sat back again.
The awards ceremony continued, and "The Matrix" undoubtedly won the best action direction and best visual effects.
However, the Best Art Direction and Best Design Design were taken away by "Ashes of Time".
Later, "Ashes of Time" took home the Best Cinematography award.
The Sunglasses King won three prizes in a row, showing off his power and suppressing Yang Ye.
The photography of "Ashes of Time" is indeed beautiful. Venice also awarded it the best photography. Yang Ye has nothing to say.
Fortunately, Lin An'er won the Best Editing Award and helped "The Matrix" win back the victory.
Subsequently, "The Matrix" won Best Sound Effects and Best Screenplay, winning five trophies in one go.
All the technical awards have been distributed, and the four most eye-catching awards have come. This time the competition is much more intense than before.
Because in 1994, there were so many masterpieces of Chinese-language films, and the Academy Awards were judged by films from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places.
For Best Actress, the finalists are: Anita Yuen in "Golden Leaves," Chen Chong in "Red Roses, White Roses," Lin Qingxia in "The Matrix," Wang Fei in "Chungking Express," and Gong Li in "Alive."
Filming the movie "The King of Sunglasses" is a very tiring task. Many actors were filmed crying and doubting life, except Wang Fei.
Wang Fei felt that filming Wong Kar-Wai's movie was very relaxing, as if he was on vacation.
It takes several years for Sunglasses to make a movie every time, but "Chungking Express", in which Wang Fei played the heroine, was completed in only two months.
This time and space only lasted forty days of filming, because Lin Qingxia was filming "The Matrix" with Yang Ye. It was already a miracle that Yang Ye could let Lin Qingxia participate in the scene. She didn't dare to wear sunglasses.
As for the other heroine, Wang Fei, she only takes one shot per scene.
She claims to have released her energy, and if you don't receive it, that's your problem.
If Wong Kar-Wai disagreed, she didn't care, she would go straight to her minivan, start the car, and speed away under Wong Kar-Wai's dull eyes.
For this, she was nominated for Best Actress, so damn talented.
In the movie, she has short fluffy hair, beautiful calves, dark eyes, swaying her body to the music, shaking bottles, and a casual look...
That kind of relaxation is something that many actors cannot achieve in their entire lives, but she was able to achieve it in her first filming.
Maybe it's because when it comes to filming, she doesn't have much utilitarianism at all, she just has fun and her mentality is naturally relaxed.
Among the five finalists, Wang Fei was indifferent, while Gong Li and Chen Chong felt that their chances of winning the award were slim.
Because it is difficult for mainland actors to win two acting awards at the Academy Awards. Gong Li has only won once in more than ten years, and she does not expect to win two.
The favorite to win the award is Yuan Yongyi. She was the Best Actress last year, and if she wins this year, she will be the winner.
In addition, she also won the Best Newcomer Award the year before last, and she did it three times in a row with one click, which was unprecedented and will be rare in the future.
Yuan Yongyi was very nervous. The camera scanned the face of the finalist, and she didn't even hide her expression.
The award presenter on the stage read out the list of winners: "The winner for Best Actress is...Gong Li!"
"Alive" is a top-level Chinese-language movie. Ge You and Gong Li both contributed superb performances in the movie. Gong Li deserved the award.
Gong Li was confused at first, and then she was ecstatic that she was awarded the second Best Actress Award.
She happily walked up to the stage to receive the award and delivered her acceptance speech. Several losers felt disappointed, especially Anita Yuen, who felt very depressed.
The competition for Best Actor is even more intense, coming from Yang Ye's "The Matrix", Ge You's "Alive", Liang Caowei's "Chungking Express", Leslie Cheung's "Golden Branches and Jade Leaves", and Zhou Xingchi's "Domestic Lingling Paint".
Except for the bug Yang Ye, the remaining four people are all top-level actors in Chinese movies.
Among the five people, Yang Ye didn't care about winning the prize, he just sat there eating melon and watching the show.
Leslie Cheung has already won the Best Actor Award twice with Xu Zai and Cheng Dieyi, but he is still very nervous. No one complains about the large number of awards.
Zhou Xingchi was also very nervous because he didn't want to be thought of as a clown who only knew how to be funny. He wanted his acting skills to be recognized.
Ge You already won the Best Actor at Cannes last year for "Alive", and the call for winning the Academy Award this time is also very high.
But he understood that while Gong Li had already won the Best Actress, his chances of winning the Best Actor were already very slim.
It is impossible for Academy Awards members to vote for both the best actor and best actress at the same time as a mainlander. Despite this, he still had expectations in his heart.
The most nervous person is Liang Caowei.
Three years ago, the White Dragon King told him his fortune when he came to Hong Kong. In two or three years, he would see a turning point in his career.
In Liang Caowei's view, being an actor means nothing more than starring in a movie that sells well at the box office or wins a big award.
Since he mainly makes literary films, the commercial films he accepts are all small productions, which are difficult to sell at the box office, so he can only win awards.
Just last year, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor for "Chungking Express."
But in an era when Hong Kong films are king, the Golden Horse Awards are not as good as the Academy Awards.
The White Dragon King's words were only half fulfilled.
Despite this, Liang Caowei has become very convinced of the White Dragon King.
This year, with "Chungking Express" being shortlisted for Best Actor, Liang Caowei has become particularly looking forward to it.
Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!
Today at the Academy Awards, in order to hide his nervousness, he even wore a pair of sunglasses to look like Wong Kar-Wai.
On the stage, presenter Zhang Min announced the list of winners: "The winner of the Best Actor is...Liang Caowei!"
In an instant, Liang Caowei was so excited that his whole body was trembling.
It's true!
The White Dragon King's words... came true.
Liu Jialing next to Liang Caowei was even more excited than him. The two hugged each other and kissed passionately, causing everyone around them to boo.
Liang Caowei came on stage to receive the trophy and was so excited that he was a little incoherent. Then he thanked Liu Jialing in public.
Liu Jialing in the audience looked shy.
In Liang Caowei's heart, he admired the White Dragon King to the point of admiration.
The subsequent competitions for Best Director and Best Film were another fight between gods.
For both awards, the five shortlisted films are the same.
They are Yang Ye's "The Matrix", Wong Kar-wai's "Chungking Express", Wong Kar-wai's "Ashes of Time", Zhang Yimou's "Alive", and Li Yin's "Eat, Drink, Man and Woman".
Later, Wong Kar-wai won the best director for "Chungking Express".
He himself felt it was a bit absurd that "Ashes of Time", which he had worked hard on for three years, did not win an award, but "Chungking Express," which he worked on casually for more than a month, won an award.
Best movie went to "Alive"!
"Alive" is one of the best Chinese-language films. It narrowly lost to "Pulp Fiction" at last year's Cannes Film Festival and won the second prize for the Jury Prize.
"Pulp Fiction" is a talented work created by the ruffian Quentin, who copied more than a hundred movies and pieced together everything from here to there.
This talent is not ironic!
As a video store salesman, after watching thousands of movies, Quentin has mastered everything and made such a movie. He is indeed talented.
The label of "Pulp Fiction" is "non-linear narrative". The movie tells three stories, divided into five paragraphs. The structure is clever and profound. Each paragraph is not divided into beginning and end. The structure is complementary, and the beginning and end are connected, suggesting that similar films in reality The plot is always happening and never stops.
"Alive" lost to it, and the loss was not unfair!
Last year Kaizi's "Farewell My Concubine" lost to "Kung Fu", but this year Zhang Yimou's "Alive" won "The Matrix", which made Kaizi feel very uncomfortable.
Because Yang Ye made a statement before this year's lottery draw, asking everyone not to vote for him just to give him face.
If he wins the award every year, will the Academy Awards still be held?
Then everyone wisely didn't vote for him. Brother Kaizi felt that he was a bit unlucky. Why didn't you say this last year?
……
Gong Li and Liang Caowei were both signed by Yang Ji. They were awarded Best Actor and Best Actress, and Yang Ye held a celebration banquet for them.
All the prominent figures in the company were present, and Liang Caowei and Gong Li also invited their friends to attend.
At the celebration banquet, Yang Ye saw that Anita Yuan was unhappy and called her aside specifically.
"Do you know why you lost?"
"My acting skills are no better than Gong Li's."
Yang Ye shook his head: "Acting is only one aspect. The selection method of the Academy Awards is a member voting system.
Good acting skills do not necessarily mean you will win awards, popularity is also important.
Because Hong Kong actors are the favorites of the Hong Kong Film Awards, they have a great advantage in every selection.
In the past fifteen years, most of the movie queens have been Hong Kong actresses, and the movie kings have not been influenced by Taiwan or the mainland.
Your character is too carefree, which inadvertently offends many people, and they will no longer support you.
If you want to go further on the road of being an actor, you should have a longer memory in the future! ”
Because of Yang Yezhao, Anita Yuan was more arrogant and domineering than in the original time and space, and offended more people.
She doesn't know how to reflect like Yuan Shikong, and finally lost the throne of Best Actress.
"I know!" Anita Yuan lowered her head and admitted her mistake. She was quite a little woman in front of Yang Ye.
"You admit your mistake, but you may not be convinced in your heart. I will arrange a new agent for you tomorrow and let her restrain you."
"Huh?"
Anita Yuan is a hundred reluctant, only a ghost wants to be controlled.
Yang Ye ignored her protest and said: "Tsui Hark plans to shoot "The Storm" with a larger investment than "Heroes of China". He is looking for actors. I recommended you to him. You can go find him for an audition yourself."
Anita Yuan said strangely: "Isn't he preparing for "The Man-Han Banquet"?"
""The Man-Han Banquet" is an old script from 1988. He took it out and changed his mind to avoid the shadow of "Heroes of China" when filming "The Storm"."
"Oh!"
While the two were talking, today's protagonist Liang Caowei suddenly walked out quickly, and not long after, he respectfully led an old man in.
Anita Yuan took a look and said in surprise: "White Dragon King, why is he here?"
Everyone in the Hong Kong entertainment industry knows the White Dragon King. Yang Ye said casually: "The White Dragon King showed Liang Caowei three years ago and said that his career would turn around in two or three years. As a result, Wei Tsai won the Golden Horse last year and won the Golden Horse this year. Golden statue, double Best Actor, the White Dragon King’s words came true, he naturally wanted to invite the other party over to express his gratitude.”
Anita Yuan nodded: "So that's it. By the way, this White Dragon King is pretty awesome!"
"Who knows!" Yang Ye was noncommittal.
The White Dragon King was straight-forward, and everyone in the entertainment industry admired him.
So as soon as the old guy showed up, everyone gathered around and greeted him warmly.
The White Dragon King calmly responded to everyone's greetings, showing his masterly demeanor.
Suddenly, there were several circles of people around the old guy, all of them big-name celebrities, and the atmosphere was very lively.
Anita Yuan also wanted to join in the fun, and she asked Yang Ye: "Don't you go over?"
Yang Ye dismissed it; "What's so good about a magic stick?"
At this moment, the magic stick pulled away from the crowd and walked straight towards Yang Ye.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, he knelt in front of Yang Ye and shouted; "Meet Emperor Ziwei!" (End of Chapter)